Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Lila
I ’ve locked down one more mate when we emerge two hours later. It was a surprise, but not a bad one. I’m really happy. I can feel him inside my chest, and he is a genuinely good, happy soul.
I am a very happy Lila, and so is my mimic. She practically preens with smug pride and keeps trying to get me to change forms. It doesn’t matter which one, she just wants me to make use of the power. We’re running late for the auditions, though, so it will have to wait, but it’s not like they can start without us, and it was for a good cause.
Ghosie and I settle in seating a few rows back, giving us an excellent view of the stage. He has a tablet sitting in front of him.
“Okay, the first act is an animal act. We still haven’t received confirmation on whether or not the Aquilians or Vilaxians are returning, correct?” he confirms.
I shake my head. “No, Nik is going to call his mother this evening to ask. They keep refusing to answer any of my calls. Saxon and I will speak to his aunt when we stop in Vilax on the way to Earth. Saxon is still willing to perform, but without any others, it will be a fairly short act.”
“I will happily join him for that act if the Vilaxians don’t come through for you. It’s not like it’s much different from mine,” a voice in the wings calls, and I stand up and squeal.
“Mags!” I hold my arms out for my friend, and she rushes to hug me, a huge smile on her face.
“Ugh, I missed you.” She tips my neck to the side as she pulls away and whistles. “I need to hear about all the things.” She turns her gaze to Ghosie then leans in and whispers, “And I want to hear all about that delightful hunk of man meat and where he came from. Does he have a friend?”
I frown, thinking about the last time I’d spoken to her. Was that before he kidnapped me? Fuck, I am a bad friend.
“Well, I want to hear about everything you’ve been up to while I’ve been preoccupied. I heard a rumor that none of the Vilaxians are returning to the show.” I cock a questioning eyebrow, and she glares at me.
“We will not be talking about bloodsucking or scaled assholes.”
I give her another squeeze and change the subject for now. “Okay, so how did you know we were here?” I ask as we take a seat. I ensure she is on the other side of me so she doesn’t accidentally brush against Ghosie. I don’t want to cut my friend when she starts rubbing up on my bear. I make introductions, and they wave to one another.
“We’ve already met,” she tells me. “When I got the recall notice, I called the ship to see if there was anything I could do to help. It’s not like I have anything else going on,” she mutters bitterly. “And X put me in contact with G here. He suggested I help you with auditions and said that you could probably use some company of the female variety.”
“God, yes.” I quickly kiss the bear next to me. If I only brush my lips across his, I get a warm, tingly feeling, but no desire to jump him like a horny dog. “Thank you. I’ve had Tirrian’s sister, Tallon, the last few days, but I’m always happy to see you.”
“What about me, bitch? Or am I that easy to replace?” another voice calls behind us.
Frowning, I stand up and peer into the darkness. That can’t be who I think it is. As they emerge from the shadows, my stomach flips with joy.
“I’m pretty sure you’re irreplaceable,” I reply and scramble over the seats, not waiting for Susie to get to me. I hug my friend, her corkscrew curls tickling my face as tears stream down my cheeks. “I missed you.”
She holds me tightly. “I missed you too, but we have a long trip back to Earth, so we have plenty of time to catch up, and I can play with all the babies. I can’t believe you’re a mother two more times.” She pulls back and looks over the length of me. “How do you keep that figure?” She winks, and we dissolve into giggles as I lead her back to sit with us.
“It helps when one of my husbands did the heavy lifting this time,” I reply, and she and Magenta wave to one another. I’m so glad my girls get along. I know they haven’t had a lot of interaction, and we still haven’t had our girls’ night out. I’m going to try to rectify that as soon as possible. I’m just sad that Nixie isn’t here, but she turned out to be different than the person I thought she was anyway.
“Ghosie, this is my sister from another mister, Susie. She and her fiancé have recently made the transition to alien as well.” I gloss over their story, sure we can get into it later.
“Hey, G,” Susie calls, and the two of them exchange an air fist bump like they are the best of friends already.
“Have you two already met?” I look between them, and Ghosie shrugs sheepishly. “The guys put me in charge of communicating with them and telling them we were returning to Earth to bring down Agent Smith, and I asked if they wanted to be involved.”
I look at my friend. “Is everyone here? What about Mark?” I ask, knowing his parents probably weren’t happy letting him out of their sight after only having found him a few months ago.
“Yes. Aura wants Pleasure Inn back. I’m not sure what that means for all of us.” There is sadness in her eyes. “Mark and I kind of wanted to join the circus. I don’t think we’re cut out to run a brothel. We both want to use our medical skills, and I have some cool new abilities that may come in handy.”
“You got powers?” I gasp, and she nods her head, looking shyly at Magenta.
“Yeah, turns out I can fly, amongst other things.”
“Whoa, yeah, girl!” Mags holds up her hand for a high five. “I can totally work with you on that. Maybe we can turn my act from a solo to a double. It would be fun to change things up a little and have another person to help with Saxon’s act if the Vilaxians choose to be uncooperative.”
My heart is almost overflowing with love right now. My two best girls are here and not going anywhere for the near future. Both of their lives seem to be chaotic, but I’m here for them. My grandma is getting close to waking up and making my grandpas the happiest men in the galaxy, and I’ve locked down all but two of my men, with only one of them being a work in progress, which only leaves the mysterious god. We have our upcoming date, which I’m excited for but also super nervous about, and hopefully on our flight from Skarr to Earth, we can get to know each other a little better.
“Okay, shall we get started?” Ghosie says, tapping the tablet. “I’m not going to give you any insight to the act. We’re going to watch it, and I would say it’s the best way to judge whether it wows us or not, right?”
“That sounds great,” I tell him, desperate to pat his hand. One thing I’m going to do when my grandma wakes up if she turns out to be the goddess of life as well, is beg her to help the Carevasta bears and the Aaz’axians—not that there are many left. Both races have suffered long enough, and it’s been close to seven hundred years since the war.
“Audition one can start,” Ghosie calls to the stage manager, who is assisting with the auditions.
I watch with barely contained excitement as the house lights drop, and the ones on stage light up.
A female walks out onto the stage. She is humanoid, but on her head, she has a mohawk of fur. On either side of it, her head is bald, but it has patterns like a leopard. She has a thin, whip-like tail, and I can see webbing between her fingers. She’s wearing a bodysuit, which hugs her body, and she has two sets of breasts and wide hips.
“Oh, an Elgrug.” Magenta leans forward, and I can feel her excitement. “This should be good. She can take the place of my act if I end up helping Saxon.”
She places her hands together and starts rubbing them back and forth. I can see something is happening but can’t make out what. She starts singing a hauntingly beautiful melody.
“Elgrug are an amphibious species who make their homes around lakes and rivers. The females are the hunter-gatherers and are fierce. Their men are pampered little princesses who have their every need catered to.” Magenta rolls her eyes, not taking them off the female in front of us.
Her hands stop rubbing, and she begins to pull them apart, forming a large, adult-sized bubble. She flicks her wrists, and the bubble detaches and floats on the spot.
“They use the bubbles to catch prey and entice mates.”
“Entice mates?” Susie asks, sounding bewildered.
“Yes. If they can catch a male and keep him inside their bubble for fun times, then they are likely to be a good provider. Their bubbles are good and strong, and if they stand up to vigorous fucking, then they can trap any kind of large prey animals. Females will create life- sized bubbles and trap potential males for weeks at a time, hoping they will accept their suit.”
I frown, watching as she taps the bubble, and it bounces in time to the music. “But I’m not sure that is going to make a good act. We’re not providing adult entertainment.” Although I must admit, I am intrigued. I’d like to coerce one of my mates into the bubble for some floating fun times.
She waves her hand, and the stage manager steps back onto the stage, looking a little nervous. She keeps singing but gestures for him to stand still. She then pushes the bubble at him, and it speeds toward him, surrounding him with a large pop. The stage manager waves to us through the translucent bubble. She does a quick little dance around him, shimmying and shaking until she gets behind the bubble, then she lifts it into the air and gives it a push. It gently floats out over the audience. We follow its trajectory for a moment before we notice her forming another bubble. She steps into this one herself and is able to make it move by gently applying pressure in the direction she wants to go.
We watch as her bubble also drifts out over the audience. She is able to control the other bubble from inside hers somehow, and they dance together in a breathtaking motion of sound and movement. They eventually come to a stop above us, pressed against one another, and she steps from hers and into the bubble of the stage manager, letting hers pop above us. I gasp and applaud as the bubble now containing them returns to the stage.
It pops, leaving the two of them standing on the stage unharmed. The volunteer looks slightly green, but that’s nothing that can’t be trained for. She will need an assistant or maybe a volunteer from the audience.
“I can make and add as many bubbles to the act as is required to make it longer,” she calls out, her voice as melodious as her singing was. “I can also put any number of objects in them to wow the audience. I would really love to travel the galaxy with you.” That last declaration sounds kind of desperate. “I’m not ready to settle down and join our mating season. There is so much I’d like to do first, and I also don’t want a mate that I have to fawn all over. Is it wrong to want an equal relationship where he cares for me just as much as I take care of him?”
God, I feel for her and completely understand. It must have been so hard for her to come here today to audition and go against her society to want something more.
“As long as you can clear our background checks, I would love to offer you a position,” I call out, not even conferring with the others.
“Could you give her the relevant forms to fill out?” Ghosie asks the stage manager, who quickly agrees and escorts her off stage.
“That was thrilling,” Susie says, her eyes wide with amazement. “It’s so exciting seeing it with the truth.”
I hated that we had to erase her memories the first time around, so it’s wonderful for me that she can be here and know the truth.
The next act is adorable. There are these small German shepherd like creatures that have sheep faces, but they have green leaves on their bodies instead of wool. The tip of each leaf and both cheeks have pink spots. Their trainer has them doing typical kind of agility things, but then the act changes and they start to merge with one another, and they create a horse-sized leaf sheep creature. That’s when the trainer climbs on its back and performs jumps and dressage movements to music. It’s not quite as elegant as dressage, but it’s still fun. He then jumps off, and the stage manager wheels a large hoop onto the stage. He steps out of the way, and it lights up with flames. The large creature leaps through it, and it sets his leaves on fire. I scream and stand up, about to use my warlock powers to conjure water to put him out, but the trainer waves me away. The creature seems to absorb the fire, and his leaves turn from green to red, and instead of pink tips, they have little flames at the end of each leaf. The creature then separates again into seven miniature flaming versions. One by one, they cough up a ball of flame that dissipates before he sets anything on fire, and they return to their green color again.
They all bow in unison, and we applaud.
“Whoa, okay, not what I was expecting but still super cool,” I say to Ghosie, who smirks.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Magenta says. “Where did you find them?”
“They sent in an audition tape. They are from a small planet at the far edge of the galaxy. The animals are bred and traded to control forest fires, but it’s still a very new process. They are hoping the circus will drum them up some business.”
“That’s smart,” Susie murmurs, and I have to agree with her. Earth could certainly use whole herds of them.
I end up offering him a spot in the circus on the spot as well. The last act scheduled today also gets an offer. It starts with the lights off, and when slow droning starts, they turn on, showing the stage covered in rocks.
“Well, that’s a little underwhelming,” I mutter, and Ghosie snorts.
“Wait,” he whispers.
The low droning continues, and one of the rocks start moving. Susie and Magenta gasp.
“Oh, I know what this is,” Magenta says, leaning forward.
One by one, all of the rocks start to vibrate, and then they begin to roll around the stage. They seem to be making patterns or following a routine, but from this angle, I can’t see it. In the circus tent, it won’t be a problem though. They freeze, and then suddenly, they roll toward the largest rock in the middle of the stage, and as they touch it, they seem to meld together. My mouth drops open as it forms a being with two arms, two legs, a body, and a head. The head rock forms facial features, and the being grins and waves.
The stage manager wheels out more rocks, and the being proceeds to give us a demonstration on his strength.
“Okay, a rock strongman, I like it,” I remark at the end of the show and also offer him a position. “I like what we’ve got so far. What do you all think?” I ask my co-judges, and the two girls agree with me while Ghosie points at the tablet.
“There are three more scheduled for tomorrow, but we’ve made a good start. Shall we head home and see if everyone else’s day was as successful?”
I invite Magenta and Susie to join us, but they both beg off. Susie and Mark are staying at a hotel until they need to be on the ship, trying to get some distance from Aura and company to see how they really feel. Magenta admits to being in a funk and not good for company, but promises that once the circus gets underway, she will be over it.
I let them go, although I’m worried about both of them, and add fix their problems to my list.
Ghosie leans in and gives me a brief kiss. “Lila, you don’t have to fix everyone’s problems,” he says gently. Damn intrusive mate bond.
I grimace sheepishly. “I know. I’m a fixer, okay? I’ll try to do better,” I promise, and we leave the theater behind and head back to our family.